Dreams Adrift (A River Dream Novel) (25 page)

The rain finally started to ease up about two
in the morning, just about the time the two diehards packed it up
and left. I guess it was worth it to them. They caught a mess of
fish. By four, the rain had stopped altogether. I went out and
walked the length of the pier. A warm wind was blowing, warm being
a relative thing. It was warmer than it had been all the day
before.

At five, a couple of the early morning
regulars came in. They were retired fellows that came and fished
every day. They’d been coming for years and had annual
passes.

“
Well, young lady, it’s been a
while since I’ve seen you behind that counter,” one of the men
said.

Treating him to a warm smile, Rhiannon agreed.
“It has been a while, hasn’t it, Mr. Proux? What can I get for you
this morning?”

“
If the griddle is hot, you can
fry me a couple of eggs and some country ham. A cup of coffee would
go nice with that,” Mr. Proux said before taking a seat at one of
the tables.

“
And how about you, Mr. Davies?”
Rhiannon asked the other man.

“
I’d just like a plain biscuit and
a cup of coffee, thank you kindly,” Mr. Davies said as he joined
Mr. Proux.

“
When did you come back to work
for your daddy, Rhiannon?” Mr. Proux asked when she brought them
their coffee.

“
I sometimes fill in for him in
the evenings. This overnighter was just for this one night, I
imagine, sir. My friend Mike is back in town, and we used to work
here together when we were in high school. We decided to team up
again and give Daddy and Uncle Ed the night off.”

“
Well that was right nice of you
young folks to do that for your daddy,” Mr. Proux said. “Wasn’t
that nice of them, Earl?”

“
Right nice of them,” Mr. Davies
said. Looking hard at me he asked, “Aren’t you Owen Lanier’s
boy?”

“
Yes, sir, that’s me,” I answered,
respectfully.

“
I’ve known your dad a good long
while, son. He helped me get my business on its feet some years
back. He’s a good man, your daddy,” Mr. Davies said.

“
Thank you, sir,” I
said.

Rhiannon was looking at me inquisitively. I
decided no good would come of educating Mr. Davies that the money
to help his business was actually mine, not my father’s. It didn’t
bother me at all. I felt pretty proud of my dad.

The two men finished their breakfast and moved
out onto the pier. Rhiannon was still busy at the grill.

“
Come and get it, Mike, omelet to
order. You like ham and cheese right?” she said, putting a plate
loaded with the omelet and hash browns up on the
counter.

My mouth watered as I eyed the food.
“Rhiannon, thank you, you didn’t have to do that.”

“
Enjoy it. It’s all the pay you’re
going to get,” Rhiannon informed me.

I laughed and sat down as she put down a
similarly loaded plate for herself.

“
I suspect we’re going to see an
influx of the early morning regulars about the time Uncle Ed is
supposed to relieve us,” Rhiannon said. “I figure I’ll stick around
and run the grill for him. You can go ahead and take off once he
gets here.”

Swallowing a forkful of omelet, I told her,
“You aren’t getting rid of me that easily. You run the grill, and
I’ll run the register. That’ll give Uncle Ed time to do whatever
sort of boss things he has to do when he comes in.”

Rhiannon cast me a doubtful grin. “You sure
you don’t mind?”

“
Mind,” I said, “I was thinking we
ought to do this again tonight.”

She straightened up and looked at me closely.
“I’d like that, Michael, if you’re serious.”

“
I’ve got nothing else planned,
honey,” I said.

Thirty-eight

We both stopped cold. Rhiannon looked at me
with a shy smile. I took a deep breath. I waited. I don’t know what
I was waiting for. Was I waiting for Maeve’s memory to accuse me,
her ghost to castigate me? I don’t know, but nothing happened. I
smiled back at Rhiannon. Before either of us could say anything, my
father walked in for his morning coffee.

“
Well, you two, how did it go?” my
father asked. “Did you have any fisherman brave the
rain?”

“
There weren’t many, Dad,” I said
as I handed him his coffee. “My friend Wes was out
there.”

Gingerly taking his first sip, my father
asked, “Wesley Hunter, from high school; is he still in the
Marines?”

“
He is. He just made Gunnery
Sergeant,” I said.

Rhiannon added, “We also had the Tuesday night
regulars show up after they got off shift. I think they would come
out in anything short of a hurricane.”

“
I imagine you two are looking
forward to heading to the house to get some sleep,” my father
said.

“
Since we’ve decided to work again
tonight, I think that would be a good idea,” I remarked.

“
What have you decided to do again
tonight?” Ed said as he walked in.

Rhiannon told him. “Mike and I had so much fun
last night, Uncle Ed, we’ve decided to give you and Daddy another
night off.”

“
You kids don’t have to do that,”
Ed protested.

“
I know we don’t, Ed, but we’d
like to if you’ll let us,” I said.

He confirmed what the look on his face had
already told us. “I’m all for it. Rhiannon, I imagine your dad will
go along, too.”

Rhiannon’s dad did go along, and the next
night we worked the overnight shift at the pier again. It was a
much busier night as the weather was nice and the air blown in on
the warm front lingered. During lulls we talked about my sailing
odyssey, her new job, and what was going to happen when I finally
returned home.

“
I think I’ll move back here,” I
said. “I don’t think I’ll ever feel right at River Dream
again.”

“
But Michael, that place means so
much to you,” Rhiannon said.

“
It did, but now it’s too full of
memories. I read a book once that recommended that when a place
becomes too chocked with memories it is time to leave it and
cherish it from afar,” I said. “That’s how I feel about River
Dream.”

“
What will you do with it if you
move back here?” she asked.

“
I don’t know. I’ll probably
donate it to the conservancy. Maybe turn the house into a research
office for studying the river. Who knows?” I said.

“
What will you do here if you come
back?” Rhiannon asked guardedly.

I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. “Maybe
I’ll work on my doctorate. Maybe I’ll just volunteer down at the
aquarium.”

Looking around the pier house, I realized we
were sitting at the table where we’d spent many evenings doing
homework. The old pinball machine we’d been playing when I asked
Rhiannon to the Ninth Grade Social still stood in the corner. It
felt very much like home.

“
Maybe I’ll just come here to the
pier everyday and go fishing.”

Laughing, Rhiannon said, “I can just see you
as one of the regulars.”

“
Hey, I used to come here pretty
regularly, didn’t I?” I asked.

“
I always thought that was so you
could see me, not to fish,” Rhiannon said with a smile.

“
It was,” I said softly, smiling
back.

When things slowed way down in the wee hours
of Thursday morning, Rhiannon broached a subject I know was hard
for her to bring up. “Mike, I may be a fool to ask this, but what’s
going to happen to us?”

I didn’t answer right away. I looked down into
my coffee cup and carefully considered what to say to her. She
waited patiently for my reaction.

Finally, I looked up and met her eyes. I think
it was the look in her eyes that made up my mind. In her eyes I saw
the old Rhiannon that I saw on the beach the night she begged me
not to hate her. In those eyes I saw my friend Rhiannon who was
sorry for the hurt she’d caused me and who wanted to find some way,
any way, to make it better. In her beautiful green eyes I saw fear
and hope, fear that I would reject her overture, and hope that
though things could never be like they were back in the day, maybe
we could find something in tomorrow for the two of us. Most of all
I saw in those eyes the love she had for me.

That may have been a lot to read into that
question and that look, but I had known Rhiannon all my life. I
thought about Maeve and what she would think. I remembered the
promise Maeve had begged me to make with her last
breaths.

I had been in love with Rhiannon once. That
love had grown cold and been replaced by my love for Maeve. But my
Maeve was gone. I felt a hot tear escape my eye and grow cold as it
rolled down my cheek.

Maeve was gone, but Rhiannon was here, and the
feelings I once had seemed to be coming alive again. Could I fall
in love with Rhiannon again? Had I already started to? Looking into
her eyes that early spring morning, I knew the answer was
yes.

“
I think,” I said to her as I took
her hands in mine, “that we should go sailing.”

Epilogue

Rhiannon and I left the pier that morning as
soon as her uncle arrived to relieve us. We didn’t really talk
about it; we just walked to her car and drove to the Nadeau House,
her house now. As we pulled into the driveway, Rhiannon hit the
button to open the garage door. I felt just a momentary twinge as I
looked into the empty garage, but it passed quickly.

Closing the garage door behind us, we got out
of the car and walked up the steps into the house. I took a deep
breath as we entered the kitchen, but if Rhiannon noticed, she
never said anything. We didn’t stop at the kitchen. I took her
hand, and, with what can only be described as a shy smile, she let
me lead her to the master bedroom.

Thank goodness she had completely changed it.
It looked nothing like the room Maeve and I had shared. Stopping
next to the bed, I turned to her and started to speak, but she put
a finger to my lips. Then, very softly, she reached up and pulled
my head down to hers and kissed me long and deep. Without a word we
undressed, climbed into her bed, and made slow, sweet love.
Afterward I held her close as we drifted off to sleep.

Sometime later I woke up to the sounds of pots
and pans clanking together. I started to look for my jeans and
shirt when I noticed a set of clean clothes - my clothes - on her
dresser. They were not the clothes I had on when we came from the
pier.

I shrugged my shoulders and put them on. I was
glad I’d gotten dressed when I entered the kitchen and found my
sister Malori there with Rhiannon.

“
Hi, Squirt,” I said. “What are
you doing here?”

Malori turned around from helping Rhiannon
with the dishes. “Rhiannon called and told me you needed some clean
clothes.”

“
So you rushed some right over,” I
said with a smile. “Thanks, Mal.”

“
You’re welcome,” Malori said
grinning back at me.

I walked over to Rhiannon, who was busy at the
sink, and put my arms around her.

“
How long have you been up?” I
asked her as I kissed her cheek.

“
About an hour,” Rhiannon replied,
turning to receive a kiss on the lips. “I called Malori and asked
her to bring you a change of clothes and decided I needed to clean
up the kitchen before you got up.”

I looked around the kitchen and noticed it was
very neat and tidy. “It looks like you did a great job.”

“
At least from now on I won’t have
to do it alone,” Rhiannon said.

I gave her a teasing smile and raised my
brows. “Really, are you getting a roommate?”

“
Brat,” she said, batting me
lightly on the cheek with the sponge. “As a matter of fact, I think
I’ve found just the right someone. He should be moving his stuff in
later today if he knows what’s good for him.”

“
Point taken,” I responded with a
light laugh.

“
That’s what I’m here for,
favorite brother of mine,” Malori informed me, “to give you a ride
to Mom and Dad’s so you can pick up your car and stuff.”

“
Is that a fact?” I said. “Does
that mean you’re taking me to lunch?”

Glancing at the clock on the stove, Malori
informed me, “It’s closer to supper time. You slept through lunch,
lazy-bones.”

Wringing out the dishrag, Rhiannon announced,
“I’m going to cook you up a home-cooked meal in honor of your first
night...” She stopped suddenly. “In honor of our first night
together in this house,” she said quietly after a
moment.

Realizing she’d been about to say “in honor of
your first night in my house” before remembering that it was the
house I’d bought for Maeve and shared with her for years, I took
her hand and pulled her to me.

“
This isn’t going to be as easy as
I thought,” Rhiannon said, clinging tightly to me.

Gently stroking her hair, I reassured her.
“Honey, we are here, now, and we’re together. We go forward from
here together.” I looked at Malori. “Mal, I think I’ll stay here
for now and pick up my stuff tomorrow.”